Blue Roses
by Arcadia-of-the-East
Summary: The aliens know that there being hunted. They think they know who's hunting them, too. But how?
1. Default Chapter Title

a/n: this is my first Roswell fic. Please review. I hope you like it  


  
**Blue Roses  
**Part One: The Writing on the Wall  


  
Max Evens sat in his Trig class, unable to hear a word the teacher was saying. He was only able to do one thing, stare. Stare at Liz. She pretended to ignore him. She pretended not to notice, but she did. Max knew she did. And that she hated it. That was good. She deserved to hate it. She deserved it, after what she did.   
".....behind Max," the teacher said distantly. Max looked up and saw a girl he had never seen before walk down his row and sit in the desk behind him.   
"Hi, I'm Helen," she said. "Who are you?" Max didn't say anything. Helen looked at him for a moment and then turned around to talk with the girl who was sitting behind her.   


  


Tess, Isabel, Michael, And Max sat in their usual booth at the crashdown. They ate in silence, not saying a word, when Maria Deluca walked up to them. "You might want to see this," she said in a commanding tone. She wore a serious look on her face.  
"What's wrong,," Isabel asked. Maria didn't say a word. She just walked. Michael got up and followed her, everyone talking his lead. Maria led them to the apartment above the Crashdown. She led them to Liz's room. Tess gasped upon entering.  
Liz was standing in the middle of the room. Her normally made bed was undone, the sheets shredded. The feathers from her pillow littered the floor along with blue and black roses like Max had never seen before. Little aliens, like the one Isabel received for her birthday, dangled from her ceiling, etched held up by a string attached to the neck. On the wall words were written in red paint:   


Roses from the armsof Death  


Max took a deep breath. "The skins?" he questioned.  
"The skins are gone, Max," Isabel snapped. "Besides, there are no pealing on the floor." Tess raised her eyebrows.  
"How can you tell?" the other alien said. Isabel shot her a look, but Tess ignored it.   
"I think it's the skins," Michael said. "It had to be them."  
"However these people are," Liz, who hadn't moved since the came up, said suddenly, "they're not very smart."  
"What do you mean?" Max asked.  
"There are five aliens, not four."  
Max counted the aliens dangling from the ceiling. Liz was right, there were five. And only four real aliens, Max, Michael, Isabel, and Tess. So why five? Was there an alien no one knew about? Or could whoever had do this the Liz's room believe that she was an alien too?  
"We need to clean this place up," said Max. "If Liz's parents see, they'll get worried." Everyone nodded and the clean up began. After that Liz and Maria left, deciding that it was best for Liz not to sleep in her room that night.   
"Do you think we're in danger now?" Isabel asked Max as they walked to the jeep.   
"We're always in danger," he said. There was a pause in the conversation.  
"Max," she said softly, "I'm scared." Max looked at Isabel. He was scred, too, but he wasn't about to admit that. Max put a hand on one of Isabel's shouklders.  
"We're entering dangerous times," Max said, "but we're entering them together. As long as we stay together, we'll be alright."  
"But what if we're not alright?"   
"If we're not alrigth we're dead. And if we're dead then we won't have to worry about this anyway. Will we?"   
Max woke up in the middle of the night. He thought he heard something. After a few soundless minuets, he went back to sleep.  


  


"You look tired," Max's Mom said at breakfast. She felt his forehead. "Are you getting sick?"  
"No, Mom," Max said, pushing her hand away. "I'm fine." Mrs. Evens gave Max a look. "Really I am."  
"All right," Mrs.Evens said. "I was just concerned for my only son who never spends any time with his mother....."  
"I spend time with you Mom," Max said.  
"Really? So why did you leave during our family breakfast last Saturday?"  
"Mom, I didn't.....," Max said. He sighed. "Why don't we have another breakfast on Saturday." Mrs.Evens smiled. "But this time, I'll cook." Max stood up from the table. "I need to get something up stairs."  
Max though deeply as he walked up the stairs. The situation at Liz's still bother him, as it should, considering it was a threat to his life. Roses from the arms of death. The phrase sounded very poetic, and Max wonder if it could be from some sort of poem.  
As Max walked across his room he noticed something on his bed. It was a note, he realized, a note that hadn't been in his room when he went from breakfast. He went to his bed, picked it up, and opened it. It said:  


**Fear of falling asleep at night.  
Fear of not falling asleep.  
Fear of the past rising up.  
Fear of the present taking flight.  
Fear of the telephone that rings in the dead of night**  
**B**EaFraiDm**A**_x_  


Max looked around his room. _There's no one here_, he thought. _How could someone have given this to me if there's no one here?_ Max opened the door and closed it as he left, not even aware that, as if by some invisible force, the door opened again after he was gone.  
Max walked into the kitchen. "Isabel," he said, motioning for her to come by him. She gracefully got up from the table and walked to him. "What is it?" she asked. Max showed her the note. "Oh my God," Isabel said. "Max what do we do? They know who we are."  
"We don't do anything," Max said calmly. Isabel gave him an insane look. "We don't know who they are, Isabel. What can we do?"  
"I don't," she said. "But we have to do something. We can't just sit here and do nothing Max!"  
"I wish you were right."  


  


"It's hot here. How can you stand it?" the new girl, Helen, asked Max. Max looked at her. She was a short girl with pale skin and short, brown hair. Her eye were crystal blue. She was waring a white t-shirt and a mini-skirt. Max thought that she looked kinda pretty, but he was also very suspiiou of her. Everything had started happening yeasterday, the day she had first appeared in Roswell.   
"I grew up here," Max said to her. "The heat doesn't bother me." With that Max left Helen alone in the hall to look for Michael.  
Max found Michael by Maria's locker. They were arguing, as ussual. "......I mean, todays our aniversery. You could have at least tried to remeber!"  
"Maria could I talk to Michael for as second," Max interrupted.  
"We're kind of busy here," Maria pointed out.   
"It's importent."  
"It can wait!"  
Micheal, who had said nothing, walked away from Maria and towards Max. Maria started with her ussual thretsof 'I'll never speak to you agien' and 'Fine, Michael. It's over' but evenually stopped protesting. Either that or Max and Michael had walked so far away from her that they could no longer hear.  
"What's going on," Michael said as soon as they had found an empty class room.  
"We got another thret today," Max said, showing him the letter he had found in his room. "And I think I know who it's from."  
"Who?" Michael asked.  
"Helen."  
  
to be continued................


	2. Default Chapter Title

a/n: Thanks for the reviews. Three people have reviewed (so far), though I know many more people read. Please, feel free to read and review.  
  


**Blue Roses  
**Part Two: The Law of the Jungle  


  
Max stared at Helen as she ate with her "friends" in the cafeteria. Once Max had told Isabel who he thought she was, his sister had made a special attempt to include Helen in any social gatherings. Helen thought Isabel was her friend, but Max knew the truth. Helen would never be their friend. Ever.  
Unless Max was wrong.  
Even if Helen was a new and mysterious alien who was out to kill them, Max saw that she was very pretty. Today she was warring light colored jeans and pale blue tank-top. Max wondered if Liz would feel jealous if they started going out.....  
Max suddenly felt sick. How could he even think about going out with something that wanted to kill him? Maybe it was the danger in it. That would surely appeal to Michael, who had dated a Skin.   
The bell rang. Max got up from the lunch table. He hadn't touched his food. Oh, well. He wasn't hungry. He was too absorbed in this paradox to be hungry.  
Max walked to his locker. He quickly undid the code and opened it. It was neat inside, as always, but something wasn't right. It felt foreign, like there was something there that didn't quite fit.  
Max started emptying his locker. The bell rang again. It was time for him to be in class. Trig class. With Helen. With Liz. But that didn't seem to matter. This, this discovery was more important. Much more important. He needed to find out what was wrong.   
All his belongings were gathered on the floor. What was wrong? There had to be something wrong, Max could feel it. He was beginning to think he was insane when he found it. An envelope. Just like the one he had found on his bed a few days ago. But this time it was.....different. It was lighter. It didn't feel so threatening, just out of place. Max opened it quickly and pulled out the paper inside.  
  
Now this is the Law of the Jungle -- as old and as true as the sky;  
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die. As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back --For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.  
Remember these words, Max, they could save your life-¤  
For a few moments Max just stood there, stunned. Then he muttered to himself. "Alien writing."  


  


They all gathered to see it. All of them. Michael, Isabel, Tess, Maria, Alex, and Liz. They all needed to see it. After all, it could say anything. I could tell them how to reach their home planet, or who was the next victim. There was no way to know for sure. So they sat at a picnic table outside of the school and stared.  
"I bet it's something important," Maria marveled. "And I bet they don't want you to have it."  
"Why would they give it Max if they didn't want us to have it?" Michael pointed out in a rather annoyed tone. "They're just taunting us," he said. "They're playing with our minds. I bet it doesn't say anything at all. We should just burn it, Max"  
"Are you crazy," Isabel nearly shouted. "This-This is probably something we could have read in the past life. I mean.....Oh, Max, we have to find out what it say. We just have to."  
"Isabel's right," Max agreed. "We need to find out what this says, they question is, how do we do that?"  
Tess snorted. "Good question."  
Maria rolled her eyes. "Somebody has an attitude."  
"Tess, what's wrong?" Max asked.  
"Oh nothing," Tess lied. "I mean, hey, if you want to fall straight into some sort of trap, that's fine with me." Tess turned and left. There was a moment of silence, then Max cleared his throat and continued with business as if nothing was wrong in the first place.  
"Any ideas?" he asked.   
"I think I have an idea," Liz said quietly. Max turned to look at her, fighting to resist the sudden urge to grab her hand.  
"What is it, Liz?"  
"There's a computer program we used in French once," she said quietly, "that translated our work into English so we knew whether or not we were writing correctly. Maybe we could scan the note, load it, and use the program to see what it says."  
"Great plan, Genius. There's only one problem," Michael said. "It's not in French."  
"Michael," Max scolded.  
"She's not even your girl friend anymore, Max. She slept with Kyle for crying out loud. You don't need to defend her every word like she's your bitch and your her mate." Michael snorted. "Grow up." With that he, like Tess, left.  
"I gotta go," Maria said. "My shift starts in ten minuets." She got up from the table and left. Alex followed her. Only Max, Isabel, and Liz were left.   
"Well, what do you think?" Liz asked. "Should we give it a try?"  
Max turned to Isabel. "What do you think?" Isabel shrugged.  
"It's worth a try," she said. "As long as it won't damage the note."  
"Don't worry," Liz said. "It won't." She stood up. "Well, let's go." Together, they left the table and walked into the school, heading straight for the computer lab. No one asked them why they were there, which was good, because they weren't supposed to be in the building at all without a pass. When they got to the computer lab, Liz quickly scanned the note. She then walked over to the nearest computer and accessed the document. After a few minuets, Isabel spoke up.  
"Why isn't it working?" she asked.   
Liz sighed. "It's not French."  
"I know that. But you said you could use this program to translate it," Isabel said.   
"I can," Liz replied as she typed something rapidly. "But this isn't French so it won't work with the existing Matrix of programing. I need to reprogram the base line of the system to do that. Normally, it would just take a few minuets. However, I don't know how to speak alien, so it'll take a little bit longer."  
"What are you doing now?" Max asked.  
"I'm assigning each symbol a numerical value. I'm hoping that the system will be able to at least translate numbers to letters."  
"But how do you know which number goes where?" Isabel asked.  
"I'm guessing," Liz admitted. "I'm just going to punch in numbers till I come up with words."  
"Won't that take a long time?" Isabel inquired.   
"Well," Liz said as she deleted what looked like 'Kla Rgid id...', "I have a long time." There was a few more minuets of silence and of watching. Then Isabel got worried and bored and stared pacing the room. Max soon found that he couldn't look at the computed screen anymore either. But, if he stood at the far end of the room where he couldn't see the letters, he could watch Liz in perfect contentment, which is exactly what he did.   
After almost two hours they typing stopped. "What is it?" Max asked as he and Isabel rushed over to stand by Liz. Liz didn't say a word, she just turned the computed screen so that Max could see it better. His eyes widened. What used to be the forgone symbols of alien text now stood before him in perfectly readable English.  
  
Now this is the Law of the Jungle -- as old and as true as the sky;  
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die. As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back --For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.  
Remember these words, Max, they could save your life-¤  
  
Max finished reading and stood aside so that Isabel could read. As she did so, Isabel gasped. "Max," she said suddenly. "This is from a book."  
"What book?"  
"The jungle book." Isabel turned to face him eye to eye. "Helen was carrying around a copy of the jungle book today." Max nodded.  
"Why didn't the last symbol translate?" he asked Liz.  
"I don't know," she said. "No letters matched it. I think-I'm not sure, but I think-that it's an extra letter. An alien letter, that only they have." Max nodded.   
"Are you sure this is right?" he asked.  
"No," Liz admitted. "The only way to be totally sure would be to have the person who wrote it translate it, but I don't thinks that's going to happen. Do you want a copy of it, Max?"  
"No," he said quickly. "We don't want to leave any clues." Liz nodded. She exited the program deleting her hours of work. Max put his hands on the computer and melted a few wires. "Just for extra protection," he said. Liz nodded.  
"I'm going to go?" she said.  
"Do you want be to drive you?" Max asked.  
"No," Liz said quickly. "I could use the walk." She left. Max and Isabel followed her, driving home. They ate dinner with their parents. They discussed school, and did homework. Through it all, Max felt like he was only half there. He had been detached, isolated from the human, or alien, experience.   
When he went to bed that night, Max lay awake for hours, thinking of nothing and everything and Liz. She really was amazing, wasn't she? How Max ever let her slip away, he didn't know, but he hated it. Finally, after hours, Max drifted into a fitful sleep with tortured dreams of color and sound, but no pictures or words. Well, maybe words. If they were words, they were words Max didn't understand. He heard a telephone ring, and the dream went on. It rung again, and Max realized that he was asleep, and that the ringing of the telephone was not part of his dream. Max opened his eyes and reached blindly for the phone, putting it to his ear.  
"Hello," he said sleepily.   
"We have to one you want most," said and implacable voice. Max heard a click and then dial tone. Max had been jerked awake with those words. There was no sleep left in him. There was sweet running down his brow and his heart was pounding only two thoughts came to him. The first was of the letter he had received. _Fear of the telephone that rings in the dead of night. _The second thought was only one word long. _Liz....  
_  
to be continued.......


	3. Default Chapter Title

a/n: Well, here is part three. I hope you like it. I do.   


  
**Blue Roses  
**Part Three: Fire and Ice  
  


It was an odd time to meet. Midnight. The magical hour. But tonight, it was not magical, it was horrible, cold, and evil because Liz, the one Max loved beyond all else and the one who hurt him most, was gone. It wasn't really fair to Max, being in love with Liz so violently. He missed her when she was away, but the site of her only brought him pain and the image of her and Kyle in bed together. Now, she was gone, and Max felt horrible. Max knew that he had wanted her to feel the same pain he had felt. In truth, Liz had felt that pain, though Max didn't know. He didn't know that Liz had given up everything for him. Everything. She had given up her hopes, she had given up her dreams, she had given up her future for Max. She wanted to make him happy more then anything else in the world, so when he came to her, she obeyed. But Max didn't know that. All he knew was the pain he felt. And so he wished his selfish wish. Now, he wished he could take it back.  
"What are we going to do," Maria asked. There were silent tears streaming down her face. Maria was Liz's best friend. They were inseparable, and couldn't even imagine what life would be like apart. Max couldn't bare to look at Maria, because he had no idea what to do next.  
"We find, Helen," Michael said. "We find her, bring her here, tie her up to a chair, and question her till she cracks. Then we knock her over the head, make her forget, and put her back were she came from." Isabel sighed.  
"We don't know where she lives," Max's sister pointed out.  
"I thought you had figured that out," said Michael.  
"I tried," Isabel said, "but I failed. Whenever I asked she'd just say 'Oh, my place is a total wreak, why don't we meat at yours' or 'I can get a ride myself, no need to pick me up'. I didn't get a number either. She said her Mom was online all day, so we wouldn't be able to get through."  
"I'm sure there's another way of finding her," Tess said in an attempt to cheer everyone up.  
"You're right. There is."  
Everyone jumped. The voice was new and unrecognizable. But, as the figure descended the stairs of the UFO center where they had met, Max saw that the body wasn't. Max didn't need to worry about finding Helen, she was already here.  
Michael put up his hand, ready to attack. Helen looked at him. "I will not hurt you," she said in a fluid-like voice with an accent Max had only heard before on TV, when a deaf person spoke on a talk show. "I am here to help."  
"Really?" said Max suddenly. "Well, if you're here to help then why did you take Liz?"  
"I did not take Liz," Helen said. "True, she was taken from you, but that crime is not mine." Max studied Helen, to see if she was lying. He couldn't really tell. Her appearance was different then it was during school. She was warring long pants, a long sleeved shirt, and gloves.   
"Your eyes," Tess said. "They don't move." Helen sigh, sorta.  
"I came here in a hurry," she said. "I did not have time to put on my full make-up, so I don't look, or sound," she added in after thought, completely human. But then again, why should I? I'm not human."  
"I know," said Tess. "But why don't your eyes move.  
"Because I have none." Tess gasped. "These are only an illusion. They are not real. My people have no eyes. We are-how would you say it?-blind." Max shock his head. There wasn't time for questions like this.  
"Where's Liz?" he asked.  
"With the others," said Helen. "I am afraid we cannot go to her now. We must wait."  
"Why?" Max insisted.   
"Because my mother expects you to come now," Helen said. "She expects you to play king and save the maiden. But you cannot do that. Not now. You must wait. When they stop expecting you, we will go."  
"How do you know they're expecting me now?" Max demanded.  
"I know."  
"And how will you know when they're not expecting me?"  
"I will know." Max felt like punching her. She didn't know anything, but she knew more then he did.   
"Why did you destroy Liz's room?" Max asked.  
"I do not know," Helen said. "That is not my business. I don't know why we're here, or why we're attacking you. Last my father told me, we were on good terms with the fire people....."  
"Fire people?" Isabel interjected.  
"Fire people. That is what my father called you. I couldn't pronounce the real name of your people or your planet, so we called you the fire people because you come from a desert planet." Isabel nodded.  
"You realize that there are only four of us, right? Not five Liz is not an alien," Isabel said. "You hung five aliens from the wall. There should have only been four." Helen looked at Isabel in disbelief. Then she shock her head.  
"There are five. Of that I am sure."  
"Isabel's right, there are only four of us. There were only four pods. Just four nor five," Max said. Helen nodded.  
"The fifth did not come from a pod," Helen said, "she came from a human who...who was taken for the..um..sake of science. The woman carried a child. When some of the scientist ruined the baby's DNA my father interjected some that he had into it to save it."  
"That woman was Mrs.Parker?" Maria asked. Helen nodded.  
"She does not remember," the alien added.  
"So Liz is like you?" Max asked.   
"No, she is like you." Helen looked around. "I need to leave."   
"No, not until you explain," Max said. He grabbed her arm.  
"You do not understand," she said. "I must leave. I must leave now. This.....," she searched for a word, "human make up....I put it on too quickly. It hurts."  
"So just take it off," Alex said. Helen looked at him.  
"You want to see me as I am?" she questioned. No one moved. "Very well. Let go of me Max." She turned around, pulling off her long sleeved shirt. Underneath was rich blue-green skin cover in an iridescent tube top. She took of her pants to reveal the same skin and some white shorts. She took a wig off her head and let silver-green hair fall free. Then, in an odd display, she took off a mask covering her face and turned around, revealing a head with full, green lips, a small nose, and no eyes. Max noticed that on her chest were gills, like fish.  
"So, Liz is, is one of us?" Tess asked.  
"Yes," Helen said. "I suppose I should tell you what I have been told." Helen took a deep breath. "My father told of these things when I was little. He said that once the planet of the fire people prospered under the rule of a mighty king and queen, Batrane and Evangeline, and that they had two children, Zahndrian and Vellandra, who lived with them. In a forced marriage, Zahndrian married Aurieleah, while Vellandra married a handsome solider named Coyteredo. Both the princess and her husband where unfaithful, but neither cared.  
"One a race who you refer to as the skins came to the planet. They asked for something called the Granelyth, which the king would not give him. The skins killed the king and was killed the instant they refused the request, leaving Zahndrain as the king. He wasn't ready to be king, especially not in a time of war. Things continued one like that for years. The royal four became divided. Aurieleah left the throne with a boy many years younger then she named Promachek. This crusted Zahndrian, until he found Jubelous.  
"While the personal battle went of the war continued. Because of Zahndrian's inexperience and Coyteredo's rash advice, the skins were winning. Vellandra was becoming desperate. Her husband nearly died in a battle. Though they were both unfaithful to eachother, they were in an odd kind of love that, and Vellandra couldn't imagine life without him. She decided that the only way to end the war would be to let the skins win.   
"Vellandra traveled to the skin's camp and helped them get access to the Granelyth. The skins were able to use access the Granelyth's power, and prepared to drop and bomb on the fire people's planet, to destroy them for all the pain the they caused the skins. They were successful. Nearly the whole planet was destroyed. Only a handful survived, including the royal five  
"Aurieleah returned to Zahndrian, and as a promise to his dying mother, Zahndrian dismissed Jubelous, braking her heart, but not her love. As she traveled, she passed by the Granelyth, and saw skins there. In a bold battle, she was able to keep them from getting the Granelyth by hiding it in a pit of sand. But Jubelous had been injured by the skins when she took the Granelyth away, and because there was no doctor with her, she died.  
"Within a few days, everyone was dead because of the bombs effects, and the skins themselves were forced to flea without the Granelyth. A space craft of fire people and," Helen looked for a word that the others could understand, "....and my people, we shall call them the ice people for know, landed on the fire planet. With the help of the ice people's advanced science, they were able to reincarnate the royal four into pods. But the first pods failed, they could tell that their personalities had been lost, as well as their good will. So they tried again, this time getting it perfectly. In desperation, they sent both pods down to Earth, a planet they found similar to their own in many ways. Three alien were left with the pods, two of whom died quickly.   
"There was a fourth fire person who survived, Promachek, Aurieleah's lover. He knew of Jubelous, and her contributions to the throne, and told my father about it. Together they found the body of Jubelous and the Granelyth, which was sent to earth. Because no one knew of Jubelous, they refused to give her a pod, but father kept her DNA. So, sixteen years ago, when my people nearly destroyed Mrs.Parker's baby, he injected the fetus with Jubelous's DNA to keep it alive." Helen took a deep breath. "It's time to go know."  
Helen rose from her seat and walked up the stairs, slowly, everyone else folllowed. They were still stunned by what they heard. They had never known the whole story. If this truely was teh whole story.  
"Helen," Max asked as they walked, "do you think we could talk to your father? He saw it first hand and......it would just be nice to hear what he knows." Helen smiled sadly.  
"My father's not here Max," she said. "When my people found out about what he had done with Jubelous's DNA they decided to punish him. He's....actually, I haven't a clue where he is, but I know he's not dead. I believe he's not dead....."  
"What about your mother?" Max asked for a quick chang of subject. "Could she tell us something?"  
"I'm afraid not," Helen said. "It was her idea that we come here in the first place, sixteen earth years ago, eight years ago when using our time. She is the one who is agienst you. She'd kill you if she saw you, Max. And if she saw us together, she would kill me, too."  
"So how do we get past her?" Micheal, who had appearently been listening, asked. Helen shrugged.  
"I don't know," she said. "Maybe we can hide your scent. You don't smell strongly, after all. Then we can smuggle you in somehow, I guess."  
"You don't have a plan," Tess said.  
"Nope."  
"Then what are we waiting for?"   
  
to be continued.........


	4. Default Chapter Title

a/n: Enjoy!  
  


**Blue Roses**  
Part Four:   


  
"Wait, we can't go," Isabel said suddenly. Max spun around, anger painted on his face. "She's all blue," Isabel said calmly. "Helen's in her alien form. People will notice."  
"Good point," Said Max suddenly. He turned towards Helen. "Helen, could you......." But she was gone. Max looked back at Isabel, then to Tess.  
"She just disappeared," Tess stammered.  
"I did not," Helen said form no where. "Invisibility is an ability I've learned to use. Come, let us go we haven't much time. I will tell you where to go Max, but we must leave. Now!"  
Everyone gathered into their cars. Maria, Michael, And Alex went into the Jetta. Max, Isabel, Tess, and invisible Helen went into a jeep. It was a long drive, at least an hour, and far, far out into the desert. Helen did not become visible once, but always whispered directions into Max's ear. Finally, the came upon a white dome, at least four stories high. Max parked the car outside of it, as did Maria, who was following him. Helen became visible again.  
"This is what's going to happen," Max said. "Isabel, Michael, and I are going inside with Helen. Tess, Alex, Maria, I need you guys to wait here. We want Liz to get out of there as soon as possible."  
"Wait," said Maria. "You just expect me to sit here when my best friend could be dying!"  
"No body's going to die tonight," Max proclaimed. "No one." He then turned to Helen, who had opened some secret door. "Come on. Let's go." The three aliens followed Helen in the building leaving Maria in the outside by the car, helpless. Max didn't feel at all guilty about it. Maria was a human. She couldn't defend herself.   
"Stay here," Helen said. She gestured for them to wait in a semi-hiddin space under some stairs. She opened a white door and walked into a white room. Distantly, Max could see hundreds of blue-green people walking around. Helen walked up to a small one with long, red hair. Helen kneeled and kissed the woman's feet.   
"Where were you," the woman said.  
"I was out among the humans," Helen replied. "I was studying, just as you requested mother.(**I was out among the humans. I was studying, just as you requested mother**)  
"Very well," the woman said. Max noticed that she, like Helen, had a fluid-like voice, and that they both spoke very quickly, in an almost musical way. "Go to your room and rest." (**Very well. Go to your room and rest**.)  
"I heard that you have one of the fires," Helen said. "May I see it?" (**I heard that you have one of the fires. May I see it?**)The woman with red hair nodded.   
"It is not a fire, my daughter. The fires are dead. This is but a clone." Helen nodded and the red haired alien speaks. "She is alone in the pit. Go." Helen kneels once more and kissed the floor and then leaves, returning to Max. (**It is not a fire, my daughter. The fires are dead. This is but a clone. She is alone in the pit. Go.**)  
"Do you know where she is?" Max asked.   
"Yes," Helen said. "Follow me, but do not speak." Helen turned quickly, and Max ran to follow her. Her head was bowed in concentration. Max wished that he knew what was said between her and the alien, but he couldn't understand.  
Max noticed that he was walking down a ramp. He didn't know where it would lead. The air around him was getting colder and colder. It was so thick that Max was almost sure it would snow. Before long a mist thicker then any fog Max Evens had ever seen surrounded them. Max, Michael, and Isabel grabbed hands so that they could keep together. Max put his hand on Helen's shoulder, but she didn't notice.  
"Where are we going?" Max asked after five minuets had passed. He was sure that he had traveled down this circle-like ramp many stories, and he was so worried and curios that he didn't care about ignoring Helen's order. She had told them not to speak.  
"To the bottom," Helen answered.  
"Why is it so cold?" Isabel asked.  
"We are trying to recreate the environment of our own planet," Helen explained. "Our cities are made inside of oxygen bubbles deep within the oceans. We spend much of our day in the freezing water, which is why they have the fog here."  
"Liz will freeze," Max commented as he shivered slightly.  
"No she won't. She has a higher tolerance for cold then you do, she's a half-breed."  
"Why couldn't we just have...."  
"Shh!" said Helen forcefully. Max heard a fainting beeping noise, as if she was dialing the number on a phone. Then a door opened as, huddled in the corner of the room, unconscious, was Liz. Max ran over to her.  
"She is freezing," he said immediately. Her skin was cold to the touch, and her skin was white. Max could barely see her breathing. There was dried blood crusted on her forehead from when they had attacked her and taken her earlier that day.  
An alarm went off. The aliens had been discovered.  
"Liz," Max called. "Liz." She groaned a bit. Though she was barely conscious, Max quickly forced her to her feet. Michael and Max balanced her between them, and they half-dragged, half-carried, her to the other end of the room were Helen had opened a small door which lead to and unfogged hallway.  
"Go," she ordered them. "Go right until you reach the latter. You'll have to climb up with her, but it's the only way you have a chance. At ground level you'll find a window. Open it, leave, and don't come back."  
"What about you?" Max asked.   
Grimly Helen said, "Don't wait for me." The more forcefully she said, "Go!"   
Michael took the lead. He pushed Isabel into the crammed hallway and dragged Max and Liz into it. "It's harder for us to see with Liz, so you need to go first Isabel," Michael half-shouted. The alarms were growing louder.   
They ran down the hall way, reaching the stairs in seconds. "Isabel, Michael, you two go first, then I'll hand Liz to you and you can pull her to the next landing before I climb," Max said as he quickly judged the size of the ladder and how tall it was. It was tall, at least three stories, but there was a little hall way, like the one they were in now, every story up.   
Isabel wasted no time questioning Max's orders. She went up right a way. There was a stressed look on her face and she climbed tensely. Max was scared for a different reason. Why were Helen's people letting them escape? This was almost too easy. Were they waiting for them outside?  
They had made it up the first landing. Max looked down through the clear flooring. There was still no one coming. Max could here something other then the alarm. They were on the second landing. Max could here screaming and banging and running. Max climbed up onto the third landing. He looked down and saw people. Max heard a faint explosion. There was a hole in the flooring next to him. They had guns. Isabel screamed. "Just keep going!" Max shouted. "Go!"  
Isabel climbed. Max looked down. He was a sitting duck. He had nowhere to run.   
Suddenly Max was knocked away from the ladder. His head was spinning. He sat up quickly. Liz was next to him, still unconscious, but the ladder, which Michael and Isabel had just climbed on, was gone. Max looked up. His friends were okey. Then, he looked down. The ladder had fallen, crushing four men with guns. Max saw only two aliens left-Helen and the red head.  
The red head was yelling. Helen was thrown against the wall by some invisible force. He body fell onto the floor. Blood, blue as the rose petals that had been found in Liz's room, covered the wall. Max knew instantly that Helen was dead.  
"Max!" Michael called. "Max! Are you alive?"  
"I'm fine Michael!" Max called. "I'm handing Liz to you. Can you reach her."  
"I've got her," Michael said. Liz was pulled up out of sight. Michael turned his attention back to Max. "How are you gonna get up here?" Max looked around. There was nothing for him to grab, no place for him to run. Max looked down again. There were two people there, well one. Helen's body lay on the floor. There was someone next to her, washing her blood, preparing her body for the grave. No one knew that the red head had killed Helen. Everyone believed it was Max and the other aliens. Yet, the blue alien looked up, as if seeing Max, or at least smelling him, and nodded sadly, then continued on cleaning.  
"I'm going to jump," Max said. "It's only three of four feet, right?"  
"Max, it's ten feet down, you can't!" cried Isabel.  
"One, two three." Max jumped. His hands griped the edge of the opening. Michael grabbed his arms and helped him up. Max didn't waste time catching his breath. He dived out the small window opening, grabbed Liz, and ran to the Jetta. He hopped in and he was gone.  
  
It had been two days since the rescue and no one had spoken of it. Liz had been home with a head cold. Maria had been covering her shifts. Isabel seemed to have endless social events. No one else had an excuse for no speaking, but simply did not speak. Now they were gathered in Liz's room. Together. "Will they ever come back?" Maria asked.  
"They haven't left," Max said. "The question is, will they ever attack."  
"Why did they attack in the first place?" Isabel wondered.  
"We don't know," Max said, "and I hope we never do. Not if it could coast someone their life." He shoot Liz a glance. Liz looked away from him. She didn't believe what Max said about her being half alien. She didn't believe a word.  
"So what do we do now?" Alex asked. Max sighed.  
"Nothing."  
The group split. Max drove around. He wanted to talk with Liz, but she wouldn't even look him in the eye. So much for gratitude. Well, she had thanked him she had first regained consciousness on the night they saved her. She smiled at him.  
Max was restless. He couldn't go home. He couldn't go anywhere. Just drive forward turn right. Drive forward, turn left. Till suddenly he stopped. He got out of his car, It was sunset, but the sky was still bright. He was in the desert, in the middle of no where.   
He walked out into the endless sand. He had to go forward today. Just forward. It didn't take look before he knew why. Just ten feet away from him, kneeling in the sand was a boy his age. He seemed to be praying to a cactus, kneeling down on one knee. He got up and walked away, not noticing Max at all. Max looked at the desert plant and saw another plant. A beautiful bouquet of blue roses.


End file.
